Physical exercise of the human body is important for both physiological and psychological reasons. In the case of an individual confined to a bed either at home or in a hospital, movement of limbs is often limited, difficult or painful, either because of damage to the limbs themselves or damage to other parts of the body, or for other reasons.
Such inactivity on the part of a bedridden individual may actually hinder the healing processes, and lack of exercise may result in poor blood circulation and poor muscle tone. In addition, skyrocketing medical costs and the crowded conditions of most hospitals require that patients be rehabilitated as quickly as possible in order that they may free a hospital bed for another pztient.
For these and other reasons, apparatus for exercising the limbs of a person lying in a prone position have been developed and are well-known in the relevant industry. However, all of these apparatus suffer from one or more defects and deficiencies that make them impractical or unsuitable for their desired purpose.
One type of exercising apparatus found in the prior art is the type that is motor driven and moves the arms or legs of the patient rather than being manually moved by them. A few illustrative patents covering this type of device are Clark, U.S. Pat. No. 2,648,330; Kellogg, U.S. Pat. No. 3,455,295; and Hickey, U.S. Pat. No. 710,689. These devices are designed to drive the arms and/or legs of a patient rather than be driven thereby. Moreover, they are ungainly in appearance and cumbersome in construction. They are also not easily stored and are expensive to manufacture.
Two other examples of the prior art are Pettijohn, U.S. Pat. No. 2,630,332 and Swarts, U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,344. These devices, however, are not designed for use on, or in conjunction with, a bed. Pettijohn is intended as a vehicle for invalids, whereas Swarts is intended as a portable exerciser.
Because of the foregoing drawbacks of ungainly motor driven exercisers and exercisers not suitable for use in conjunction with a bed, other devices have been devised for exercising the limbs of a person lying in a prone position. Examples of such devices are Boyko, U.S. Pat. No. 2,668,709; Chaudoir, U.S. Pat. No. 2,484,153; and Wentz, U.S. Pat. No. 2,673,088.
Although Boyke, Chaudoir and Wentz are of simple, portable design adaptable for manual use on a sickbed, all of these devices except Boyke are designed primarily for exercise of the feet rather than the hands. And none of these devices can be removably affixed to a sickbed or the like in such a manner that they may be conveniently stored out-of-the-way from the normal use of the bed yet readily available for quick use.
It is thus seen by a review of the pertinent prior are that there are unique and heretofore unsolved problems associated with present devices for exercising the limbs of bedridden patients and the like.
With the foregoing in mind, it is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for manually exercising the limbs of a bedridden patient that is removably attachable to either the head or foot of a bed in such a manner that it may be stored in a ready-to-use position that does not interfere with normal use of the bed.
It is a further important feature of the present invention that it is easily manufactured from inexpensive, readily-available components.
Another feature of the present invention is that it is preferably manually operated by either the arms or legs of the user, but may be driven externally, as by a hand crank or electric motor.
Another important feature of the present invention is to provide an adjustment means for adjusting the force required for operation of the device.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide attachment means for attaching the hands or feet of a user to the device.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a device for enhancing the healing, blood circulation and muscle tone of bedridden patients.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon consideration of this entire disclosure. It is to be understood that the summary and detailed description of the preferred embodiments of this invention that follow hereinafter are not to be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention, but that they are merely illustrative of the objects and features of the present invention.